Sushmita Sen was not the first choice. Kalpana Lazmi had offered the role to Raveena Tandon, Bipasha Basu and Preity G Zinta before her.
The film was initially called "A Prostitute And A Postman".
Karan Nath was signed for the film but opted out.
Kalpana Lajmi stated "My Bihari servant comes from a place called Giridh. He told me about the levels of oppression that go on in his village. I transferred the onus of oppression from the zamindaar and thakur to the dharam-adhikari. I'm not religious by nature. I was appalled by what blind beliefs exist in the villages. I took Bhupenda's [Bhupen Hazarika] love story about a prostitute and a postman and put it within my socio-religious ideas. All the dialogues, every word, are mine. Every character was given a specific origin. Mithunda's Hindi is terrible. But I insisted he speak Sanskritised lines."
Kalpana Lajmi stated "Sushmita did something remarkable. She asked me to let her do an entire take without rehearsals. I agreed. When she gobbled up Mithunda he didn't know what hit him. That stunned look on his face was real. After the shot Mithunda was livid. He called me to a corner and abused me in graphic language. You don't know what I've gone through. Half the time he was drunk. I had put my foot down. He didn't like it. For the last five days he didn't touch a drop. Hence the inconsistent performance."